Health Reform Bill in Doubt After Republican Wins Key Senate Seat - January 20, 2010

State Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) won a surprising upset victory over State Attorney General Martha Coakley (D-MA) in a special election race to fill a seat formerly held by the late Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA). Senator-elect Brown has pledged to cast the deciding vote to uphold a Republican filibuster on the health care reform legislation, which is being negotiated by House and Senate Democratic leaders. As Republicans will hold enough votes to effectively kill the legislation in the Senate, Democrats are scrambling to find another way to pass a bill. The most discussed scenario involves the House passing the legislation approved by the Senate in December - thus requiring no further Senate action. As a result, Democratic leaders could choose to pass a budget reconciliation bill as an add-on to the health care reform measure. Such a bill could change key aspects of the health reform bill, but would be limited by Senate rule to only include provisions that would directly affect revenues or spending.